My (Twisted) Pokémon Journey: PMD Different Futures

Chapter Seven - ✿ New Theories ✿

The storm raged on, and a Pokémon, green, lithe, and quick, was racing through a beaten path in a forest. Nightwood Forest, said the wind. It was cold. The Pokémon didn't seem to slow down, or even notice the rain as it dripped off his leaves. Grovyle. Another whip of the raging wind. Finally, the Grovyle reached an area that had a faint green-blue-turquoise color that pulsed slowly, like a sleeping heart. The Pokémon seemed to wince at the light, even though it was not all that bright. It was night, a new moon, maybe that made it so much brighter.

     What made the light, though, was a floating gear, palm-sized, surrounded by a design that pulsed like the gear, but was only light, not tangible. The Grovyle pulled out a bag, and started to reach for the gear, but hesitated, basking in its light.

     "Do my eyes deceive me?" the Grovyle said. "Could it be...? Yes, it is!" Lightning struck, and the Pokémon was glancing at the sky, and he held small pouch close to him now, before turning back to the gear. "I've finally found it! Treeshroud Forest's Time Gear!" He reached for it, and hesitated again. "But...this is only the first of the five..."

     Two more strikes of lightning lit the clearing up, with the Grovyle looking once more at the sky, for a moment drowning the Time Gear's light. Then the Grovyle grabbed it, murmured something while looking around, and, when he didn't find what he was looking for, he growled, "I guess that was a lost cause. I have yet to find her here." He then sped out of the area as it turned gray and lifeless, and he raced so it would not touch him.

✦ ❦ ✦ ❦ ✦

Loudred came to bring us to roll call. Pika looked just as startled as I was, maybe a bit less so since he wasn't twisted in a blanket -- which was fireproof, made specially for me -- like I was. I must have stayed up later than I thought when I was reading the journal.

     I tried remembering my dream. Green forest trees and shrubs, rain and lightning--

     Pika greeted me, dazed from Loudred's voice as he was, and I smiled with a response to the effect of "Good morning." I was a bit preoccupied as we went to roll-call, I just wasn't there. My thoughts were too loud. My thoughts from trying to remember my dream... or thoughts from trying to remember my past. The journal was familiar, like I could almost remember writing it, almost remember the days that I had written them about. But there were two things I could see clear as day. I had trouble remembering, but when I did, I realized they were--

     "HEY YOU TWO!" thundered Loudred at Pika and I, making my ears ring, shattering my thoughts into a million lost shards. What was I remembering? I almost had it... like a dream in the morning... but once distracted, it's lost for the moment. Loudred came rushing over from the sentry hole. "We need your help with something today!" He pointed over toward Diglett, who seemed partially preoccupied, and led us over. "Alright, Diglett. I brought them!"

     Diglett, who seemed to be like me and was snapped out of his thoughts, blinked a few times and then smiled at us. He wasted no time getting to the point, though. "Ah, thank you, Loudred. Okay, so it's a kind of 'initiation' that everyone in the Guild do sentry duty anyway, so--"

     "You two are doing sentry duty today!" Loudred interrupted, though even at this annoyance I could tell it wasn't intentionally rude.

     Diglett nodded, thought it was not all that much movement. "Sorry," he said. "I'm usually the one to do sentry duty, but today my dad gave me his duty of updating the bulletin boards upstairs. It would be great if you could take over my sentry duty for today. I have to go and find some new outlaw postings, and for that I have to go to Officer Magnezone..."

     I nodded slowly, and responded the same way. "Fair enough, especially if this is one of those 'rite of passages,' anyway."

     "Right," Diglett said. "So... please do a good job for me." He tunneled down, leaving the dirt not looking as neat as the rest of the floor.